The Relationship between Social Media and Divorce
Current statistical data has shown that first marriages are nearly 50% as likely to fail as they are to succeed before the 20th wedding anniversary. This trend has increased throughout the years 2006 to 2010, almost the same timespan that social media sites were becoming more and more popular. But this is not to blame sites like Facebook for divorces but merely to point out an unhappy coincidence. The use of evidence from social networking sites is becoming more and more prevalent in divorce cases.
Another survey of divorce attorneys compiled by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) has tried to measure the impact. They have found that over 80 percent of divorce lawyers believe that the use of evidence from social networking has increased considerably since 2006. Yet the sad truth is most people do not know how something as harmless as posting a party pic on Facebook can negatively impact any divorce settlement.
This is not an attempt to scare you into deleting your Facebook account but rather an effort to make you think twice about the content of your posts. There have been cases where people have had parties at their houses with alcohol and their children. A few pictures can be negative enough to possibly sway child custody cases; even though they don’t mean that the child was in any danger.
Divorce attorneys recommend taking the following steps during and even after your divorce. First, be mindful of what you post because you shouldn’t be aiding your spouses’ divorce case. Second, try to keep your social circles separate from your ex’s so that location updates with the opposite sex don’t turn into evidence that you were looking to cheat. The third step is to stop posting your locations if they are unsavory and could possibly lead to an argument with your soon-to-be-ex.
